GUARDIAN OF THE END

"How are we supposed to have the mana of a person who hasn't been producing any mana for years?" Risa questioned, her shoulders dropping.

Jason, however, stood frozen on his spot.

'System, do I still have the bit of mana we stored up more than a decade ago?'

[ Yes, host, Zara's mana is still present inside you from all those years ago. I don't know how much of it can be used by you. ] The system replied.

"Hypothetically speaking, if we do manage to find her mana, what do we have to do to get her to her original condition?" Jason questioned aloud.

[ if we somehow have her mana, we can do something similar to what you did with me. Using that mana, you will forcefully form a connection with her and evict the mist around her mana core and heart.

Once both of them are working normally, the rest of the mist will automatically be destroyed or thrown out of her body. ] May explained calmly.

"How do you know all this?" Risa asked with narrowed eyes.

[ What is happening with her is similar to my condition. The divine energy present in my body as well as the divine energy produced by my divinity are interfering with my natural growth and body functions.

If I don't get to a temple after the next six months, I will die with a bang. The same is true for her though her time limit is an year. ]

Risa could only sigh and accept the words said by May. After all, she couldn't prove them right or wrong.

"Well, we failed at the first step then. Our best bet is Nora but no one has the same mana." She sighed at last.

"Actually, we can go ahead and do this procedure," Jason blurted out. 'It feels like this was specifically made for me. Well, I am fked if she asks my how I have this mana.'

Naturally, that was what happened.

"Do you have her mana?"

"I do."

"How do you have her mana?"

"I chose to remain silent and not address that question. Now if you will, please allow me to go ahead and wake my aunt up from her long years of sleep."

Jason walked towards the edge of the bed until he stood directly beside Zara. He placed his right hand on her forehead and relaxed his body.

'System, send the mana through.'

[ As you say, host. ]

Jason suddenly felt something new appearing inside his body. He knew that he couldn't use this new source of mana yet the energy still felt pure to him.

[ Guide it towards Zara's forehead and let it enter her body. Once it does, force it to travel towards her mana core. You will meet resistance like that in a video game. You just have to push forward and reach the mana core. ] The system informed Jason.

It had already analyzed May's plan and had come up with the various outcomes. If Jason did things correctly, Zara might wake up pretty soon.

'Well, here goes whatever that goes.'

Jason let the mana enter Zara's body from his hand.

Risa's eyes were glued to his hand as she noticed the different mana passing from his body to Zara's body. She was able to identify it as Zara's mana, making numerous questions appear inside her head.

Unfortunately, Risa couldn't ask them for the time being since she would be breaking Jason's focus.

[ You will be facing the first resistance soon. ]

A few seconds after the system had spoken the words, Jason felt multiple barriers surrounding the piece of mana he had injected inside Zara.

[ Imagine that the mana is turning into a bullet of fire and breaking through the barriers. Once you break the first one, the rest will gather together to prevent you from advancing further.

Use this opportunity to go from the sidelines and progress further towards the second resistance. ]

'How do you know all this?'

[ I am just a good analyzer and scenario creator. Now put your focus there instead of talking with me. ]

Jason sighed mentally before imagining the mana to take the shape of a bullet. He couldn't tell how but he could feel the mana slowly taking the shape of a bullet, one made from fire.

Jason imagined that the bullet shot forward and shattered the barrier as though it was glass. Seconds later, he felt the mana bullet colliding with a barrier and breaking it into numerous tiny pieces.

He couldn't tell whether the other barriers had gathered together or not and decided to rely on the system.

Jason immediately made the bullet of mana take a sharp turn. It rushed forward without facing any other resistance.

'What is the second resistance?'

[ Corruption. The mist will try to corrupt the mana before it can reach the mana core. This is the resistance you will feel the rest of the time. ]

Soon enough, Jason started feeling that tiny portions of the mana were being chipped away.

He increased the speed of the bullet yet the further he went, the faster the bullet started getting corrupted.

[ You just have to get a small portion of the mana to her mana core and heart. It doesn't matter how small the portion is, just get it to the heart! ]

Jason increased his focus and accelerated the bullet to his limit. More than half of the bullet vanished in this manner before he reached Zara's heart.

The mist around her heart didn't let the bullet enter, which made Jason grit his teeth.

[ Give her a small shock quickly! ] May shouted inside Risa's head.

She didn't question why she needed to do that and simply went near Zara. Risa placed her hand on Zara's right shoulder and used her life element to shock the latter's body a little.

He mist around Zara's heart parted for a split second but it was enough for Jason's to inject the mana inside her heart.

He guided the remainder of it towards her mana core and repeated the same process.

Once the mana and entered both her heart and mana core successfully, Jason lifted his hand off her forehead and sighed in relief.

[ Now we just have to sit back and see the effects of the mana in motion. ] The system declared.

Jason stepped back and stood beside Risa with an anxious expression on his face. Both him and his grandma were using their respective visionary skills to directly look at Zara's mana cores and heart.

"Grandma, do you think it will work?"

"I don't know. I have performed similar treatments but I have never encountered someone who was put in such a state, that too by an apex guardian."

Both of them fell silent as they watched the mist around Zara's mana core and heart slowly moving away.

Not only that but the path Jason had guided the bullet through started clearing up. The temperature in the room dropped slightly which was noticed only by May.

[ Give her a few minutes. Her mana core and heart will take some time to get used to producing blood and mana at a normal pace. ] May explained.

As a demi-god, she had faced a similar problem on numerous conditions. She would have to force the divine energy inside her divinity to make sure that her body functioned properly.

At most occasions, she found it quite annoying yet it worked. However, May had overfilled her divinity with divine energy which had resulted in it leaking from her body.

Everyone except the red butt monkey king had been affected by it and were knocked out. Even the king himself had to force himself to stay awake or else there would be no one who could have helped the rest of the monkeys.

'Its a good thing that he came at that moment. Sometimes I wonder how many things are controlled and how many things happen coincidentally.' May thought with a mental sigh.

In reality, she was both grateful and sad about what had happened. If Jason hadn't saved her, she would probably be no longer alive.

"Grandma, are you seeing this?" Jason suddenly asked.

"Yes, I can see this. I think its better if we retreat to the entrance of the room and create a barrier to protect ourselves just in case the mist decides to attack us." Risa replied in a grim voice.

Mist was slowly coming out of Zara's body as her body was throwing out all of the useless material.

Her heart was pumping blood at a steady pace while her mana cores were slowly charging her body with mana.

The trio retreated to the entrance of the room as Risa erected a barrier for protection.

Jason unconsciously released a sigh of relief before focusing on the movement of the mist.

It took Zara a long time to evict all of the mist from her body but once the process was done, her eyes immediately flew open.

However, before any of them could say or do anything, the mist exploded into a vibrant range of colors.

All of them blacked out, not knowing what was waiting for them once they woke up…